A Knight's Tale is a medieval action/comedy set to a modern rock soundtrack. Following the life of William Turner, a commoner and squire who through the fortunate death of his aged lord is able to pursue his dream of being a knight. He brings his friends Roland and Wat along for the ride and is soon in way over his head. Trying to win the heart of a fair maiden, paying for armor with no money and staying one step ahead of the vicious Count Adhemar is all in a day's work for William. Featuring a great cast including Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk, Rufus Sewell, and Paul Bettany( yes Vision), and a fantastic soundtrack, A Knights Tale is a great movie. Now let's dive into the behind the scenes action and what I love about this movie!
A Knight's Tale takes it's name from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, who they meet in the film walking naked and penniless due to his gambling problem. Though the two don't have anything in common other than the name it's a fun reference for anyone who's into medieval literature. The filming of the movie took place entirely in the Czech Republic. The only major production issues were the injuries suffered by stuntmen and actors, and in one instance the director. Director Brian Helgeland was practicing a jousting scene with Heath Ledger and got hit the the mouth with the broomstick they were practicing with. He lost his front tooth and it took months for his mouth to heal enough to fix it. Other than injuries a lot of time was spent trying to make convincing lances that would shatter on impact. After some trial and error they found a blend of balsa splinters and uncooked linguine to be the most convincing. The armor in the movie was made using the polyurethane armor making technique pioneered for the movie Gladiator. When A Knight's Tale was released it was a mild success commercially and mostly negatively reviewed by critics. It saw more success in home video and gained a large following, with renewed interest coming in light of Heath Ledger's untimely death.
I enjoy this movie because I love the Middle Ages, knights, castles, and rock music. I saw this movie when it came out and I've re-watched it about once a year since. The actors are perfect, the stunts are realistic and impactful, and the soundtrack makes the movie a blast to watch. While A Knight's Tale has plenty of action and adult humor it's perfect to watch as a family. It has a modern fairy-tale vibe and you don't even feel the two hour and twenty minute run-time. If you haven't seen this movie go watch it, you won't be disappointed.
